Dominated by BLI- The life of the secret Killjoys
by ifthecapfitswearit
Summary: Enid, Jake and Matty live in a cold harsh world dominated by fear and suffering. But they aren't normal, they never have been. Until one day they decide to leave their home, their family and their lives behind in battery city for one last chance to live the life they've always wanted... (I do not own MCR or any quotes/ themes/ characters from Danger Days, only OCs.)


I stood back wondering what is done this time but, they were speechless. I'd sung, sung my heart out. I looked down, still frowning. I barely speak to other people, let alone sing in front of them. I stared back at their blank expressions. They looked shocked, and a little scared. Singing was illegal, stupid I know, but it was only meant for the CEOs... I wasn't a CEO. I looked at my feet as my mum coughed loudly.  
"That's quite enough of that." She said sternly, then she turned on her heel and closed the door on my brother and I.  
"Matty I-" I said pleadingly to my twin. He shrugged and walked over to his bed.  
"Is this what you've been doing up here all this time?" He said, eyes blazing. "It's disgusting!" I cringed but then I remembered two weeks ago.  
"I found the book Matty!" I said, striding over to his mattress and pulling out the thin corner of the flimsy paper back. "This was banned three years ago, it even talks about how to tune your radio to dr d!" I hissed at him. "How'd you get it?" I snarled.  
"I bought it." He hung his head in shame. "I used all my conquer day money to buy it."  
"From who?" I said quietly.  
"A guy told me to meet him down this alley in downtown and we made the deal, I threw in some of mums happy pills too." He said snatching the book and tucking it in to his duvet case. I held his hand and we both sat on his creaky bed. I read his expression of pain and humiliation and decided to ask the only question I'd ever wanted to know.  
"Did it mention," I took a deep breath. "Killjoys?" His head snapped up and our eyes met, his shone brightly with a glimmer of hope, he nodded.  
Dinner was awkward, due to my mothers oh so subtle hints about how she'd heard many people sing, some legally some illegally, but I was the best. My father didn't care, he was content to gorge himself on meat loaf and fries and then fall in to a deep slumber in front of some BLI approved broadcast. Matty, mum, Jake (our older brother) and I had to clean the house around him. While Matty and I did the dishes we talked quietly.  
"Who was in the book?" I asked as soon as our mother left the kitchen.  
"Dr. D himself!" Matty whispered excitedly. I smiled and scrubbed wistfully, how I wish I could join them. Ever since we were little we were told how the killjoys were bad news and that they were a threat to our society. Until one day we got a supply teacher called mr Smith, who was secretly a killjoy, he taught us about before BLI. It sounded amazing, no happy pills, no limit on speech, no limits at all (if you had enough money of course)! We were enraptured but a goody goody two shoes blew the whole thing by alerting the head teacher of it. As it turned out mr smith's real name was Intense Lithium. He was hung later that week, the whole class was forced to watch. We all yelled his name, his real killjoy name, as he came on to the platform, we copied a hand gesture he had shown us, two fingers up in the air facing outward was a sign of peace. The whole class held up our hands. Though we had only known him for four hours, we respected him more than any CEO. We were all killjoys.  
Matty and I finished up and ran upstairs where we dug out his book and began to read with relish.  
The next day was a children's holiday, but adults had to work. This day it was raining and jake was out so we looked for things that killjoys would wear a we found some old jackets in a dusty old cupboard one of the jackets was leather the other was a jean jacket, the leather one was red and the jean jacket had sequins on the pockets, and bounded around pretending to shoot fake dracs. We were fourteen but still acted like five year olds. I'd shot the last drac when all of a sudden jake crashed through the door. He glared at us and ran up to his room. Matty and I pulled off our costumes and hid them away.  
"I'm hungry Enid." Matty said sitting in dads armchair.  
" I'll make some sandwiches." I said going in to the kitchen. I made Matty and I some and went to take jakes upstairs. I knocked on the door once and then barged in. He was stood on a chair in a suit with a loop of rope in his hands. I may have been a kid but I knew what this was.  
"Jake!" I screamed. He looked up in horror. I ran to him and pulled him off the chair, pulling the rope out of his hands in the process. He let out a small gasp. I hit him in the stomach and yelled at him.  
"What are you doing, what were you thinking. You selfish git!" I screamed, tears poured down my face.  
"I'm tired Enie. So tired." He said listlessly. Matty crashed through the door. He looked at the rope and then at jake and I.  
"Jake." He said so quietly it was almost a whisper. I started to sob, moving away from jake. I looked at him as he stood up and shook off the chip crumbs. He looked sheepishly at Matty.  
"I HATE YOU!" Matty screamed. I looked up, shocked. He ran at jake with a face contorted with anger. He shoved jake to the ground and hit him and kicked him. "DON'T YOU EVEN THINK OF LEAVING US HERE!" He yelled. I wiped my eyes and jumped up and held Matty back.  
"Stop Matty." I said calmly.  
"I didn't want it to be you." Jake said quietly. "I wanted mum to find me, I wanted her to show some emotion." He said distantly.  
"We're leaving." I said slowly, jake looked at me. "Matty and I are going to enter the zones, you're welcome to join us." I said strongly, I felt Matty relax under my grip. Jake looked at both of us warily.  
"You want to be killjoys, that's worse than death!" He said with a shocked look on his face.  
"No, it isn't, we know. We have books, well a book." I said offering jake a hand to help him stand up.  
"Can I read it?" He asked sheepishly. I nodded.  
"You have one week to decide, then we're off." I let go of Matty and we turned to leave.  
Later that night I slipped the book under jakes door, I prayed to whoever might be listening that jake came with us.  
I woke up the next morning to a knock on my door, it was jake, he looked deadly serious and tired. His light blonde hair was ruffled, his blue eyes blood shot. He and Matty looked very similar, I however took after my mum. I have bright ginger hair with eyes that were sometimes blue and sometimes green, but all three of us towered over our parents. Jake looked at me seriously.  
"We'll leave tonight." He said sharply, handing me the book and turning back toward his room.  
I went back to bed and stared at the ceiling, we were doing it, finally, we were getting out of this hell hole.  
That day our mother was in bed all day, that was a side effect of the happy pills, you got tired. Also she was working the night shift so she needed her rest. Anyway, jake, Matty and I saw this as an opportunity to plan our escape. He spread a map of battery city over the wooden dining table and pointed at our house.  
"We are here." He said in hushed tones. "And the exit is here." He pointed at a tunnel on the edge of the city. The escape route was far away and if they walked it would take hours. "If we walk it will take three hours to get to the tunnel. The next problem is the barrier in the tunnel." He said matter-of-factly. "In the book the killjoys recommend crashing through with your car, but since we don't have one..." He sighed, turning to pour himself a cup of coffee. "Any ideas?" He looked at Matty and I, we shook our heads in dispair. He downed his coffee. Then an idea struck me.  
"How bout we use mum and dads car?" Jake and Matty stared. "Think about it, dads out tonight, mums on the shift. Mum leaves the car for dad for the morning. We have a large window of opportunity to take the car!" Jake started to smile and Matty got up and slapped me on the shoulder.  
"Attention, we have a genius in the family!" Matty said loudly, I smiled but then told him to be quiet.  
"That's a great idea Enie!" Jake said. "But we still have no idea where we can find any killjoys when we get out there!"We all looked at each other in desperation.  
"We just drive." Matty said quietly. "We'll just drive until we reach somewhere." Matty said folding up the map. I nodded, as did jake. We split then. Jake went out, he said to buy laser guns. Matty said he was off to ride his bike. I just went for a walk round my town. Every house was the same, there was no greenery, no trees. I went in to the square. The fountain was shut off, as usual, it was green and brown around the edges. I sat on a stone bench and looked up in to the sky. It was sunny, but there was no heat. I wrapped my grey cardigan round me tight. It was always cold, it was like the sun was being shut out. Everything was grey and dark. It depressed me, there were no colours, none at all. I sat there for a while, about an hour, when mrs Rut came up and sat next to me, she was an old neighbour, she was a bit weird because she always talked about her lost son. He went away a few years ago, no one knows where.  
"I have the things your mother asked me for, love." She said handing me a plastic BLI bag. I looked at her confused, my mother was scared of mrs Rut, she would never ask anything of her. I was about to ask when Mrs Rut whispered to me.  
"I know what your planning love." I was about to protest. "He had the same look in his eye."  
"Who did." I asked confused.  
"Kellan, my son. When he went off to join them." She sighed. "This was what his girlfriend was going to wear, she never showed." She looked at her shoes. Then she grabbed my hands. "Find him for me, please." She looked in to my eyes, I nodded slowly. She smiled at me. "Say hello to your mother will you?" I smiled and nodded and ran off toward my home. I spread the clothes over my bed. There was a bright t-shirt that said: 'Give Up the Ghost!' In bright pink lettering. There were also some electric blue leggings with some black worker boots. I quickly put them back in the bag. I ran in to the hall and lifted the piece of wood that separated me from the attic. I crawled up in to the small space and stood up looking for the light switch. When the lights were on I coughed because a plume of dust blew up in to my face. I dropped my bag next to the opening. I knelt down and started to look through the boxes. After a few boxes filled with old toys and old photos of mum. When I came across dads box. I opened it and found some photos of dad when he was young. He was standing in the desert with his arms wrapped round two other men. One of them was a dirty blonde and tall and lanky. My dad was slightly taller than him with platinum blonde hair, a lot like Matty and Jake's. The other man had bright red hair and wore a yellow and blue mask. I looked at this photo for a while, so many questions buzzed round my head, my dad was a killjoy, who were the men in the picture and what had happened to them? I folded the picture and tucked it in to my jeans pocket. I pulled out the ripped jeans that were splattered with paint and a bright yellow vest top with red streaks. Underneath that was a leather waistcoat that was studded with gold along the collar. It was the right size for Jake. I dusted it off and laid it down next to the plastic bag. I poked through some more boxes of dads old stuff. I found some light blue skinny jeans and a plain green t-shirt that might fit Matty. I also found some more photos of dad and a couple of other people, mostly the first two guys in the first photo posing with ray guns. Some other guys appeared often, one had long black hair that fell to his shoulders with a bright yellow bandana, the other has a hairstyle that could only be described as an Afro. They were smiling in every photo, they all were. Even dad, I hadn't seen him smile since, well, ever. I kept one photo of Afro and yellow bandana, but kept on digging until I found my dad's diary, I opened it slowly. It was leather bound with crumpled white paper that had smudges of dirt and Sand all over it. I started to read:  
'Today I found Dr D and the fabulous killjoys after months of trawling zone six, I got them! I saw poison first, as ghoul says "You always see poison first!" They took me back to headquarters, it's only five of them there permanently, they have people coming in and out. I said I was staying, I may only be seventeen but I'm ready to fight, look alive sunshine!' That was the first entry. I now knew that the guy with the bright red hair was called something along the lines of poison. And another one was called ghoul, but other than that I still had no idea who they were, but I knew I wanted to know. I slipped the diary in to my costume bag and laid out Matty's outfit next to Jake's. I clambered back in to the hallway, making a soft thud where I landed and then reached up to slide the panel back over the gap in the ceiling. When Matty got back I told him about what I'd found in the loft, he wanted to go up there and search for himself, I said no.  
"We'll wait for Jake." Matty told me about what he'd seen, the dracs were on patrol. They were making sure everyone was behaving, a woman was with her child and they walked by some dracs, they grabbed her and took her away. Matty said he waited with the baby until his mum came back, she didn't. Luckily the babies father found them and took his son home.  
"He was crying, really badly. I felt so stupid for not trying to stop them!" Matty said on the verge of tears himself. I patted him on the shoulder, we sat and watch an old movie about how killjoys were trying to kill BLI's leader, but a faithful drac stopped them single handedly. All films were like this nowadays, when the drac killed the killjoys I felt sick to my stomach. Mom left at seven and jake was back by seven thirty, we only had half an hour to get ready.  
"Where've you been?!" I said angrily. I wasn't going to be able to show them the attic. Jake smiled wickedly.  
"Getting guns!" He pulled out two laser guns, one was a shiny blue with pink swirls, the other was green with a red stripe.  
"Oh my goodness they're awesome!" I squealed, attic forgotten I grabbed the blue and pink one and pointed it at the fridge.  
"Hands up, give me all your food!" Jake laughed and handed the green one to Matty! He jumped around pretending to shoot the furniture. Jake pulled a yellow one from his bag.  
"Hey I thought they only sold white ones?" Matty stopped running around and we both turned to Jake.  
"Yeah." I said agreeing with Matty.  
"I stole two months supply of happy pills from mum and gave them the rest of my savings left from getting the guns to pay this artist I knew to paint them." He pulled his hoodie off and chucked it on the sofa.  
"Let's get ready." The next few minutes I spent filling jake in on the contents of the attic, he didn't seem too surprised. "He always seemed like a rebel when I was young, he had dreams though. They were bad ones, he use to yell. Then he got medication and became what he is today." Jake explained pulling on his leather waistcoat. "I don't like the studs on this." He pulled one loose and threw it on the floor. Matty and I were all ready and went to go find the jackets we'd hid earlier. We put them on. They were a little too  
Big for us but we didn't care, we grinned giddily at each other, our ray guns were hidden in our waist bands covered by the over sized jackets. Jake started to give out orders, I packed food, he got clothing, and Matty had to fill up about fifty water bottles. We got to work, it had just turned eight thirty when we were ready to go when suddenly our father walked in.  
"Where are you three going, dressed like that?" He said glaring at us. Jake stepped forward, protecting Matty and I.  
"We're going to leave battery city, we're going to the zones!" Jake said pushing his way past our dad. He slammed a fist in to jakes chest.  
"No you're not. How exactly were you planning to get there?" His tone mocking.  
"We were going to take the car." I said toughening my stance.  
"What that piece of shit? Hell no! You'll be the laughing stock of the zones!" I kept eye contact with him, refusing to back down. "Listen no kids of mine are showing up in that hunk of crap!" Jake was open mouthed.  
"Are you saying-?" Jake started.  
"You should go, you bet your pretty little ass I am! But you have to have the right vehicle!" He said exasperatedly. He went in to the kitchen and grabbed some keys, his hands were shaking. He threw them at jake. "Go to Al's garage, two blocks from here. Tell him Pharmacist Shock sent you." He opened the door and looked all three of us in the eye. "Make this count, and tell poison I'm sorry!" Then he turned and went upstairs.  
"Wait, who the hell is poison!" Matty shouted. He was answered with a door slam. Jake looked at both of us.  
"Let's go." He said, the words lingered behind us as we filed out of the front door. I remembered a quote from my dad's diary: 'Look alive sunshine!'  
Al's garage was a derelict building with the windows and doors boarded up and the smell of stale urine hung in the air.  
"This is a dump!" Matty said loudly, he was voicing what everyone else was thinking. Jake went up to the front door and started to pull planks of wood off the door, when all of a sudden there was a knock from the other side of the wood, we all jumped back in surprise.  
"Come round the back!" Hissed a voice. We did what it said because we were already scared stiff, you could get arrested for wearing this kind of thing. We hurried round the back and knocked on the old metal door. A hatch slid open.  
"Who are you?" The same voice that was at the front hissed.  
"Pharmacist Shock sent us." Matty whispered. The sound of the door unlocking ensued and then the door swung open. A hunched man looked at us as we stepped through.  
"Ever heard of the word conspicuous?" The old man mused as he closed the door.  
"We need a car." Jake said from the shadows.  
The old man sighed and walked over to Jake.  
"You are very impatient, young man!" He said slyly. He crossed the garage to flick on the switch. The room lit up. It looked like an old workshop with tools and power pup cans littering the floor. Nimbly the man hopped over to a car like shape that was covered with a sheet. He held the sheet and turned to me.  
"Once I open that door," he pointed to the large garage door that would swing open at the touch of a button. "I will be killed, by dracs. If not experimented on for months by BLI. Just answer me one question, why should I die for you?" He said calmly. His eyes were sharp and focused on me. Jake began to talk but the man silenced him. "Not you, her." He kept his eyes on me.  
"Because... Because." I stuttered, my throat felt dry, I looked at Matty and then at Jake. I felt myself strengthened and I began to speak. "Because sir, we don't just want to escape, or kill a few dracs. We're not bent on revenge or looking for a place of freedom to relax in. We want to unite all killjoys and bring down BLI once and for all!" I smiled at the old man. He looked shocked at first, but then he smiled. His eyes became full of fire and fight and his shoulders dropped a little.  
"Now that, was to die for." He said winking at me. He pulled the cover off the old car and patted the bumper. "They used to call these muscle cars." The car was orange with a black stripe along the side. I beamed at him and jake came and patted me on the back.  
"Couldn't have put it better myself." He jumped in to the drivers seat. Matty and I got in to the back seats. The old man hobbled over towards a big leaver. Jake rolled down the window to say good bye. Our bags were under our feet. The old man leaned in and said,  
"Five cans of gas in the back, she's full at the moment. When you get in to the desert, one of the first places you'll come to is Frozen Bullet's hideout. The leader, Ma, is a nice woman, she'll set you up for a night, tell her Pa sent you. Understand whiplash?" Jake nodded. "Go then!" Jake revved the engine as Pa opened the big door. They opened slowly. I saw Pa reach for his ray gun, a steely look in his eye. He winked at me through the window, then Jake hit the accelerator. We sped down the road, turning with no indication. The people peeked through their curtains as we sped past. A few dracs shot at us as we passed them on the street. We turned the final corner and saw the tunnel open out before us. I looked at Matty, and Matty looked at me. We smiled at each other and grasped each others hands. I closed my eyes. I felt the car go faster and faster until I heard the crash of the barrier. I opened my eyes and saw a piece of red and white wood fly past my window along with the face of a very angry drac. My heart began to slow down and my grip on Matty's hand loosened. I smiled and jake turned around in his seat.  
"We've done it, we're out!" He high fived Matty before turning back to the steering wheel. The expanse of the desert opened out before us.  
"So what are we gonna call ourselves?" I shouted over the noise of the engine.  
"I know what I'm calling myself!" Jake called.  
"Yeah, what?"  
"Whiplash Baby" He called following that up with a big woo!  
"How 'bout you Matty?" I asked  
"Dunno." He said with a massive grin on his face!  
"How bout... Bold Shooter?!" I cried.  
"Yeah, does exactly what it says on the tin." He pulled out his ray gun. "What about Enid?" He asked Jake. Jake thought for a second.  
"Toxic apocalypse!" He said smiling wickedly. I made a face!  
"Ew, no!" He laughed.  
"Adrenaline Threat?" Matty shouted as if he had been zapped by a ray gun.  
"Yeah! I like that!" I smiled at Matty. "Thanks!"  
"No charge!" He said smiling back at me.  
"You two should sleep!" Jake said throwing a blanket at us from the passenger seat. We huddled together on the back seats, slowly rocked to sleep by the bounce of the car on the uneven terrain, the sense of freedom and peacefulness was over whelming and rocked my brother and I in to a deep sleep.  
I felt two strong hands lift me out of the car and the heat hit me instantly, the mixture of heat and humidity was stifling and made me want to go back to sleep.  
"Jake?" I said sleepily.  
"Go back to sleep Enie, we're at the frozen bullet's hideout." I let my sleep take me over and I fell in to the comforting blackness.  
I woke up on a hard mattress with a spring sticking in to my back. I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes. The room was light and bright. It was white and had a large widow, that had been broken, it had a mattress, that Matty and I were sleeping on, on the floor. The floor was carpeted and covered in stains. There was a sofa in the corner, jake was fast asleep on it, it had stuffing coming from a seam and the tartan print was faded. I stood up slowly. A loud bang came from downstairs, Matty shot up. We looked at each other, he jumped up and we ran to see what the explosion was. Two boys were grinning at each other whilst they looked over charred remains. Matty and I stood speechless. The two boys, who looked exactly the same as each other looked up.  
"Here they are-" One said maliciously  
"The other so-called-" the other one finished.  
"Twins!" They said in unison. I grabbed Matty's hand. These two freaked me out.  
"Oh look-." The first one said.  
"-you've scared her!" The other one finished. The first one looked startled.  
"I scared her, you scared her!" They began to squabble. Matty and I turned our attention to our surroundings. The main hall, which I guessed we were in, was far brighter than our room. We had just come down some steps to where we were now. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, covered in dust, a large glass dome flooded the grand hall with light. The light bounced off the polished marbled floor and reflected in the mirrors that covered the walls.  
"Petite Versailles!" A loud voice crowed from a small alcove from the back of the hall. "That's what they used to call it. It was the first building BLI built outside battery city. It failed, killjoys infiltrated the work force, it used to be a golf course." A tall, gangly boy with a shock of black hair and lightly tanned skin and bright blue eyes.  
"Who are you, all of you?" I said accusingly.  
"I am Robbed Prophet." He said calmly. "They are; Shell Case and Fire Trickster." I nodded noting down their names mentally. The twins had stopped arguing and were watching Robbed. "The rest are still sleeping, there are five more. The old woman is Ma, the man with the beard is called Danger Skater, the young woman is called Canine Ripper, the girl with pink hair is Massive Static and the one with black hair is called Dark Heart." I nodded.  
Matty stepped forward.  
"I'm Bold Shooter and she is Adrenaline Threat. Our brother is called Whiplash Baby."  
"Whiplash?" Shell Case asked.  
"Yeah, that's what Pa called him." I said to Matty.  
"Pa?!" Robbed asked. "You met Pa?!" I looked at him.  
"Yeah, he gave us the car." Matty said lightly.  
"Oh, I've got to tell Ma! Where is he, can we get to him?" I looked at my feet. Matty turned to me.  
"Should we tell him?" I nodded. "Robbed, uh-." Matty's voice caught.  
"What?!" Robbed asked.  
"He, uh-." Matty stuttered. I felt someone come up behind me.  
"He died." Jake said sharply.  
"J- I mean, Whiplash!" I shrieked!  
"He's what!" Fire Trickster shouted as Bullet helped Robbed find a chair.  
"He helped us get the car and then he got shot." Jake said as bluntly as before.  
"No, no, NO!" Robbed cried. I hugged Jake.  
"Stop it, can't you see they're upset?" I said punching him in the ribs. Matty looked at Jake and then pushed past him to go up to the room. He grabbed my hand. I held back for two seconds and hissed at Jake. "Apologise, twit!" I then followed Matty up the stairs. Matty found a shirt in the cupboard. I sat on the sofa looking out of the window.  
"You should get changed." Matty said picking up Jake's blanket and chucking it on the sofa and flopping down beside me. I stood up and pulled off my T-shirt and switched it for a big pink vest, obviously meant for a male. It hung off me like a tent, I didn't mind. Matty looked at me, I went to go and sit next to him.  
"We still don't know why he tried to..." I said gesturing.  
"I don't care, it's the fact he wanted to do it." I sighed and got up and started folding up clothes.  
"Listen, we need a plan of action. I need to find mrs Rut's son and we need to find the fabulous killjoys. So I suggest we find the killjoys and then ask about Kellan. We could broadcast from Dr. D get the word out. Maybe even set up our own gang." I said hopefully.  
"One problem. The killjoys were in their prime twenty years ago, they'd be at least forty, and all our information is out dated Enid!" Matty said keeping his eyes fixed on the horizon.  
"It's worth a try." I said lamely, getting up and turning towards the door I said: "I'm going to ask Jake, okay?" Matty just waved his hand at me.  
"Cool." I slammed the door behind me. I stalked down the stairs to find Jake. I got in to the grand hall and spotted Jake ducking in to the alcove. I ran across the marble floor, calling for him and tumbled behind him through the alcove. I found myself in a grand living room. The beige carpets were littered with dog food cans, the yellow walls were covered in graffiti and the large bay windows had whole panes missing. Jake and Robbed were standing in the centre of the room, the twins were sitting in front of them. The rest of the crew lounged around on the circular sofas looking very laid back. Two girls, a few years older than me, about sixteen or so, were playing cards, an old plump woman with light brown hair with streaks of grey, sat bolt upright listening intently, a middle aged man with a massive beard sat with his arm looped round a young pregnant woman's shoulders. They all looked interested in what Robbed was saying. I shrunk in to the shadows of the small alcove.  
"As you may know, our second in command, Pa, has been missing in action for several years." Rob said with a straight face. "From the recent arrival of our friends here," he pointed at Jake, who waved. "Some new information about Pa's whereabouts has been revealed. He had been holed up in an old gas station protecting something that was dear to a fellow killjoy until the day it was needed. That day was a few nights ago, when our friends here needed away to escape from BLI. Pa was protecting a car. Our friends here needed that car, but they could not obtain it without revealing Pa's whereabouts. So, like the faithful fool he was, he... He..." Robbed began to break down. Jake clutched his shoulder and rubbed his back. He looked up at the expecting audience.  
"He bravely sacrificed his secrecy, and as we now believe, life to safely deliver us away from BLIndustries. He showed no interest in coming with us, nor letting us help defend him. He went down fighting." Jake finished. I looked at the faces of the crowd. Tears were spilling from the woman's face, she clutched her husband, who looked shocked and upset. The two girls had dropped their cards and were holding each other. The worst reaction of all was from the plump woman. She let out a cry louder than anything I had ever heard.  
"Oh, Pa!" She said sobbing in to her apron. Rob was hugging jake and crying on his shoulder, Jake looked uncomfortable but wouldn't deny this simple comfort from a broken man. The atmosphere in the room was filled with pain grief and misery, a small tear escaped my eye and I ran in to the hall, bumping in to Matty. He looked grief stricken.  
"What's wrong." I asked worried. He opened his mouth and let out a strained whisper.  
"Dracs!"  
I turned and ran through the alcove, Matty followed in quick succession. I stood at the arch way.  
"The Dracs, they're coming!" Seven pairs of bloodshot eyes met mine.  
"Canine, get in to the basement. Everyone grab their guns, we'll meet on the porch." I reached in to my waist band for my gun, it wasn't there. Jake grabbed my arm.  
"Yours are in the cupboard in our room." Matty and I ducked through the alcove and ran toward our room. The door swung open and we sprinted up the stairs. I dived for the sock draw and wrenched it open. I dug quickly through the pairs of socks and found our two guns. Matty and I grabbed them and took off downstairs. We exploded through the front door and joined the group huddled on the forecourt.  
"Now, we need to protect our home. Understand. How many trucks were there squirt?" She said to Matty.  
"Just the one." Ma smiled.  
"Great, that shouldn't be too difficult. Now, positions everyone." Ma clapped her hands. The man and the twins went round the side of the house. Robbed, Jake and Dark Heart ducked behind our car. Massive static pulled me and Matty behind the out house. Ma stood facing the horizon, I saw the same look in her eye as pa had before his last stand. I couldn't watch so I turned away. Matty and static were discussing the everyday life of a killjoy.  
"We only shoot things once in a blue moon, we aren't the type of gang to go looking for trouble. Especially not after canine got knocked up. All we really do is sit around and wait for the Dracs, this is the most fun I've had in ages!" She said steadying her barrel just round the side of the house. Matty looked like a puppy, I guess he'd always had a thing for pink hair.  
"In Battery city, we never have anything like this. Well except for the hangings. You get invited to those, if you don't get invited you don't get in. And if you don't show up, your hanging will be the next one." Matty spilled, clumsily. Static smiled, I think she saw through Matty's awful attempt at covering his emotions.  
"We had to go to one once." I said peeking out from behind the small shed. Static looked up.  
"You did?" I nodded.  
"It was horrific, we were only seven at the time, so we can't remember it that well. But it was a killjoy getting killed, what was his name again, oh yeah, Intense Lithium!" Matty said standing in front of me to talk to Static.  
"Seven, oh wow." She looked shocked and sorry. "That must have been harsh." She said comfortingly.  
"Worst thing was, we knew him." I looked at my feet, her eyes were full of pity.  
"You knew him?"  
"Yeah, he taught us for a day, taught us about killjoys." I explained.  
"He was very brave." Static reached over and put her hand on my shoulder.  
"I know." I shook my head.  
"Get ready!" Ma shouted. I snapped up and got ready to run. My fingers tingled with anticipation and my legs tensed up. I heard the first shot, I dived out from behind the shed. My finger was already on the trigger. The dracs had pulled up in a white van with black lettering. They were pulling their white guns from their holsters. There were more pouring out from the back. Bang, a thud, bang, thud, bang, bang, bang, thud, thud, thud, thud, bang, bang, bang. Thud, thud, thud. I opened my eyes. I'd been shooting blind. I looked up and saw a mass of dracs on the floor. There was one kneeling, grabbing his arm. I looked around. Matty's leg was hit and Danger Skaters hand had gotten hit, other than that we were all okay. Ma strode over to the injured Drac, she pulled off his mask and grabbed his hair.  
"You, grab the mic." She shouted at me. I ran to the cab and grabbed the handset. I handed it to her. She pulled it just underneath the Dracs face.  
"Say we're all dead, say your going further out to get some more." There was a pause. Ma shook his head. "Say it!" She screamed. The Drac slowly held the radio.  
"All clear here." He said in a raspy voice. "Going out in to the desert to find more warrens, over and out." He dropped the handset. Ma pulled out her gun and shot him in the head. The clean white of the van was splattered in the deep red of the Dracs blood. Ma dropped the limp body and turned to face the rest of us.  
"Put the bodies in the van, take the van and the car to as far away as possible. Leave the van. You got that." We all nodded. "Good." She went back in to the building. We grabbed the bodies and started pulling them towards the back of the van. It took twenty minutes of silent work to pile every body in. I leaned against the van and Static handed me a bottle of water, I downed it quickly. As we had worked the temperature had steadily risen. It now took twice as much energy to do anything. I wasn't used to this amount of heat, it was always cold in Battery city. I slid down and covered my face.  
"Hey, Threat, you wanna come with me to the dump, the vans got air con?" Robbed said jiggling the van keys above me. I smiled and held out my hand, he grabbed it and helped me up.  
"Matty and I are gonna be in the other car." Jake said, slamming the back doors of the van. I climbed in to the passenger seat and closed the door. Robbed started the engine and we set off. I rolled down the window and started to wave my hand up and down. Rob cleared his throat.  
"So, where you from?" I looked up at him.  
"Battery city main hospital. You?" I smiled at him, he didn't take his eyes off the road.  
"Dunno, Ma says one day I just turned up. Said I probably got dropped off before a suey." He said dryly.  
"What's a suey?" I asked.  
"A suicide mission." He said checking his mirrors. "So, what's the deal with Bold and Whip?" I paused for a second.  
"Whip did something, or at least tried to. Bold didn't like it. They've been at it ever since." I looked out to the horizon.  
"What did he do?" I looked at him.  
"He.. No I can't. Ask him yourself, he'll tell if he wanted to."  
"I'm coming with you." I snapped up, shocked.  
"Did you ask Jake?"  
"I don't need to, Ma says I'm going, so I'm going. She wants you to have an escort with you." I let out a small giggle.  
"Good luck with that one." We sat in silence for the rest of the ride. We slowed down and he turned off the engine.  
"Get out." Robbed said. I jumped down from the cab. We walked round to the back of the van. I saw the car way off in the distance. Robbed pulled out some sunglasses, he slipped them on quickly. They were black with a purple lightning bolt.  
"God what is taking them so long?" He shook his head and lit up a cigarette. The smell of rotting flesh began to fill the air.  
"That's disgusting." I pulled a face.  
"What, the bodies, yeah." He took a long drag and rested his head back on the van.  
"Not that, well yes that, but the smoking too." He held up the cigarette with a quizzical look on his face.  
"This?" I nodded. He laughed. "You take what you can here, sometimes it suppresses the appetite so you can avoid eating another tin of dog food or soggy rice. Sometimes it's to calm the nerves, you know, when you fight. Sometimes it's an escape, so you can deny the pitiful existence you eek out, stuck in the desert. We don't even know if there are any other killjoys left, or if BLI are just sending the rebels out to die." He blew a plume of smoke in to the air. "But I'd rather be on my own or dead in the desert than be captured by BLI." He looked at me. "And judging that your here and not still cooped up in your pleasant suburban house, I guess you feel the same." He looked up in to the sky and laughed. "You, missy, probably know more about me than half of the people at that camp. So considering you're my confidant I've got one last secret, you wanna here it?" He looked at me through the corner of his eye, which I could see through the gap in the glasses. I nodded. "I think your brothers cute." With that he put his cigarette to his lips. I was stunned.  
"Mat- I mean, Bold?!" I said, my voice reaching an octave I'm sure only dogs could hear.  
"Did I say your twin, hell no, he's an annoying little brat. Your older one, Whip." He smiled. "Speak of the devil." The red car came in to view over the horizon. Rob threw his cigarette on the ground and pushed it out with the toe of his boot. I stood up and he threw the doors open and looked at the vultures that had been attracted to the van.  
"Go nuts." With that, we started walking in the direction of the car. I stayed a few steps behind Rob, he seemed like the kind of guy who was the joker one minute and the next he was ripping your throat out for a off hand comment, not trustworthy. We reached the car after about five minutes of walking. Jake did a one eighty to face us side on, he rolled down his window.  
"Sorry we were late, Bold needed a toilet break." He nudged Matty, Matty just scowled back, his cheeks were pink.  
"No problem, baby!" Rob said smiling at Jake. I was stunned, but the I remembered Jake was whiplash baby and would probably think it was a new nickname. Rob walked round the back and slid in to the back seat. I opened the door and took one last look back, the open rear of the van was a swarm of black feathers. I shuddered and quickly got in the back next to Rob. Rob leaned in.  
"You can keep a secret, can't you sweetie?" His voice was low but playful. I smiled at him and nodded.  
"Don't worry, I have no interest in outing you." I whispered. A slow smile spread across his face.  
"Thanks." He turned back to the window, still smiling.  
When we got back, I was starving. Matty and I were both hungry so we asked Rob where the kitchen was. He pointed it out. It was through the double doors at the end of the hall, he winked at me as we left. Matty and I got one plate of rice and one can of dog food, power pup, we sat at a small circular table near a window.  
"I didn't go to the toilet." I looked up from my rice with dog food.  
"I never said you did." I looked at him blankly, wondering where this was going.  
"Jake and I had a fight." I blinked.  
"You hurt?" I said spooning a mouth full of horrid tasting, brown mush in to my mouth, I grimaced.  
"No, it was a verbal fight." I smiled. Glad that they were trying to sort this out as adults and not just scrapping, like juveniles. "I said I wanted to know why. He said he couldn't tell me. I said that was a load of shit. He clammed up and went silent. I yelled at him, he pulled over and turned to me and said: 'Piss off, it's none of your business." He got out and started pacing. I went and sat on the bonnet. He started speaking, disjointedly. He started to talk about Jim and you and me. He yelled and then he got back in the car, I didn't ask anymore." He gazed in to his gruel. I cleared my throat.  
"Do you think it has anything to do with why Jim stopped coming round?" I said curiously. Jim had been Jakes best friend but a couple of weeks ago he'd stopped coming round after school. It had been around then that jake had gotten really moody and refused to come out of his room. Matty and I heard him crying a few times. We couldn't understand why. Matty looked thoughtful.  
"Yeah I guess so." He said eventually, then we realised we were too hungry and we devoured the rest of our meal.  
I walked in to the living/ sleeping room and spotted the twins talking with dark heart in the corner. Matty and I made our way over to them, Dark Heart looked up, a look of distaste spread across her face.  
"Look who decided to grace us mere mortals with their presence! It's about time!" She said standing over Matty and I. We shrunk back and backed away from her. She glared at us.  
"Well, you know what, we don't want you here so piss off!" She spat and turned back to the twins. A large hand caught us on our shoulders.  
"Don't listen to her, she's in a bit of a mood. I'm danger skater and this is my wife, canine ripper." The pregnant woman smiled at us. "Come and have a chat." We faced Canine and Danger face on.  
"Why do you want to find the Fab Four?" Danger said calmly, his voice was similar to that of mums therapist.  
"We've got a message for poison and some questions that need answers." Matty said bravely. Danger nodded.  
"No one has heard from them in years guys, it's pretty unlikely they're still there. Or alive." He grimaced. "Last I heard they'd found something worth fighting for, never said what though." He pondered that thought for a second.  
"And Dr D?" I asked, my heart was sinking.  
"Died a few years back." He looked solemn. Matty cast an anxious glance in my direction.  
"Okay." My plans were already changing. "Did anyone replace him?" I looked Danger right in the eyes.  
"No." He shook his head. I got up and started pacing.  
"If we eventually find their hide out, there's no guarantee anyone will be there. But we should still try." I said looking at Danger, he nodded.  
"I'm glad one of you has a plan." He smiled, his eyes crinkled up at the corners. Canine whispered in his ear. "Sorry guys, she needs to get some rest." He helped her up out of her chair and they walked off. Matty and I decided to leave. The heat was stifling when we got outside, we spotted Jake an Robbed sitting on a picnic bench a few meters from the house. Jake looked up and waved us over, he was smiling. Robbed looked pretty pissed that Matty and I had shown up.  
"Hey guys, Robbed just offered to help us!" Jake said enthusiastically. I smiled and looked at Matty.  
"That's great, isn't it bold?" I nudged him. He quickly smiled.  
"Yeah, super!" We walked round the table and sat across from them, Jake swung round to see us.  
"He says he's been out in to the other zones before. He grinned. Robbed sat up and swivelled to look at us.  
"I have a vague idea." He said nonchalantly. I looked at him.  
"But you said you didn't know whether you were the only killjoys left?" Jake looked hurt by this realisation. A look of panic crossed Rob's face.  
"I went out when I was eleven. That was six years ago, I can't be sure anyone I met is still around!" He said desperately. Jake looked calm again.  
"Well, that's better than nothing." Jake looked at me and Matty. "So what do you say, can we let him join our adventure?" He grinned. I beamed back at him, as did Matty.  
"Sure." We said in unison.  
"Good, because he would be coming either way." Jake said getting up. Matty and I followed him. Robbed glanced up and pulled out a cigarette.  
"You leavin'?" He said lighting up. "I'm hungry, so I'm going to eat. These two are going to try and stop being awkward loners and socialise!" We followed jake in to the kitchens. We sat at our table and began to speak in hushed tones.

"I don't like Rob." Matty said crossing his arms.

"Don't care, runt." Jake said concentrating on his food.

"It's not that we don't like him, we just aren't sure we can trust him." I said trying to get Jake's attention.

"Bull shit, I don't like him or trust him." Matty waved his hand in front of Jake's face. Jake slapped it away.

"Tough." I grabbed Jakes hand to stop him from taking another bite, he looked at me open mouthed.

"I spoke to rob while we were waiting for you, he seems nice enough. I just can't seem to put my finger on why I don't trust him." I said endearingly. Jake dropped his fork.

"We need him, he knows the desert better than anyone else here apart from Ma and Danger. They refuse to leave so we have to take him." He whispered urgently. I nodded, it was for our own safety.

"You two need to sort out your problems before we leave, or it'll be just me and Rob looking for the fabulous killjoys." I stood up and gave them both meaningful looks. I walked out of the kitchen. I hurried back to our room and pulled the book out of the food case. It now smelt distinctly of ham but I didn't care. Our food had been confiscated on arrival, we had no say in the matter. I opened the book to the page I had left off.

'First day was a long one; Poison and ghoul went off to hijack some BLI truck and left the rest of us to clean up. I got toilet duty. I scrubbed the toilets until they sparkled, it was disgusting. I started retching a couple of times but nothing came to fruition. When I was finished Ghoul and Poison were already back. The place still looked as dirty as ever. "You didn't actually clean the toilet, did you?" Ghoul said trying to not laugh. I nodded. He burst out laughing. The rest of them joined in. Ghoul and Kobra high fived each other. I scowled. Then I realised I still had a bucket full of nasty water in my hands. I walked towards them. Ghoul looked up with mock surprise. "Oh, you gonna hit me." I smiled.

"No." I said just before I dumped the bucket on his head. Kobra fell off his seat with laughter, poison jumped out, trying to avoid getting wet. Jet just said;

"You were asking for that one." He started to laugh along with the rest of us. Ghoul stormed out of the station. Poison ran after him. I threw the bucket in to the corner and pulled up a bar stool. Kobra stopped rolling around on the floor and pulled himself back in to his seat.

"So what's up with those two?" Kobra smiled.

"They have an unspoken love for one another." Jet nudged Kobra. "No but seriously, they've been through a lot of stuff together. They're like brothers."' The entry ended. I was tempted to read more, but someone was knocking on the door. I jumped up and pulled the door open. Ma stood there looking at me curiously.

"Hello." I asked shyly. Her gaze cut me.

"Hello, child." She came in and sat on the sofa. I closed the door. "I know for a fact, the killjoys are dead." I looked at her astonished she was being so blunt with me. "They passed through a couple of years after your dad left. They didn't even stop. They looked like they'd been driving all night. The next day a big van followed them and came back that night. They didn't stop either." Ma said sadly.

"How do you know they weren't in the van?" I asked helplessly.

"They would never have left that car." She said firmly. She met my eyes. "You go to zone six, you either find what the van was transporting or you find what made them want to go effectively kill themselves." I stared at her. "But there is no way in hell you'll find them alive." She got up and left the room. I collapsed on to my bed. I lay there thinking over and over what Ma had said until I fell in to a restless sleep. I woke up with Matty poking my stomach, I had fallen asleep in a starfish position. I slapped him.

"Quit it." I said shoving him away. He smiled and laughed.

"Dinner time, sleeping beauty." He pulled me up and we walked in quite company towards the dining hall.

"You sorted that stuff out with Jake?" I said quietly. Matty nodded. "Did he tell you why he-." I pulled a pretend rope round my neck. Matty nodded. "What was it?" Matty shook his head I grabbed him by the collar. "Tell me god damn it!" He smiled obnoxiously and tapped his nose. I shoved him against the wall and let go of his collar. I stormed in to the kitchen. I grabbed a can of power pup and sat with Jake and Rob in the centre of the room. I slammed the can down and ate it viciously.

"What's up." Jake said.

"The ceiling. What are you some kind of therapist?!" I swallowed a sickly mouthful.

"Funny kid, what's bothering you?" Robbed said dryly.

"At this point in time? You, now shove off!"

"Hey you came and sat with us, remember?" I finished up my can. I was about to get up when Rob grabbed my arm.

"Get off me."

"Tell me what's wrong." We glared at each other for a moment, I gave in.

"I'm sick of being left out of the loop." Jake looked shocked.

"What are you talking about? You get told everything. You are the only one who has any idea what we're doing here?" Jake shouted standing up.

"So you'll tell Matty why you even considered committing suicide but not me?!" I was so angry I forgot to use Matty's killjoy name. Jake looked like I'd just slapped him.

"ENID!" Jake shouted. At that point Matty and massive static walked in. Matty stopped looking doughey eyed as soon as he saw Jake's face. I brushed past Matty on my way, I glared at him. I felt so upset a few tears escaped my eyes. I swiped them away and blinked back some more. A dark figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Trouble in paradise?" Dark hearts voice crept through the darkness. I stopped and turned to her.

"What is your problem?" I glared at her. She stepped toward me.

"You and your poncy family. Your stupid upstart ideas and your stupid clothes?" She pulled at my jacket. "It doesn't even fit you." She pushed me down. She whacked me across the face. My vision blurred. I heard footsteps.

"Dark, what have you done?" I recognised the voice.

"Rob?" A hand smoothed my hair.

"Dark there is blood." Hands picked me up gently.

"I'm so sorry, I just wanted you to stay!" The scene faded in to black.

The next morning I woke up to a sharp light. The door opened and Rob walked in. He had a bowl of what smelled like porridge.

"Thanks for last night Rob." I said touching my head, it was bandaged. "You did this?" I smiled at him, he nodded. "How'd you get the porridge?"

"Shut up and eat." I smiled and grabbed the bowl and dug in. When I was finished he took the bowl away. He went downstairs and I heard snatches of a conversation.

"No, don't go up there... She's very tired... No Bold, she won't appreciate that... Very well then, but only you... BOLD put that away!"


End file.
